Grindelwald, Switzerland: In Photos
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Baby Boy
Right now the side of his face rests against my belly, skin to skin, his warmth magnified by mine. It is a wonder, an absolute awe-filled thing, that just days ago he was on the other side of me, tucked away and unseeable, a secret. Elliot. Elliot with the head full of hair. Elliot with the fifty-eight eyelashes. Elliot with the rounded nose that dips into rounded cheeks that slope to the tiny chin that quivers when he cries, lifts when he smiles in his sleep. A landscape. Elliot. Tiny boy so like and unlike all the other boys who have been born before. So like and unlike whatever small person I imagined my own son to be. Perfection is a rare if not impossible thing, but how could he not be, right now, so young, so soft, exactly as he is here, breathing in and out, making the sounds that all mothers and fathers know as first-speak. Secrets. He is revealing them to me, unspooling them by the minute, by the number of his sighs, and they tangle around my legs and body until I am war
Strasbourg, France: In Photos
Charming neighborhood shots and a shoreline that goes on forever - lucky you! I hope you're feeling we'll Emily.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Barb. Outside of an inability to take long car trips without my back complaining in twinges and groans, all is well! It was nice to visit the ocean again.
DeleteEmily:
ReplyDeleteI see you discovered Powell's the most amazing bookstore on the West Coast! How many hours were you captured by their books? We virtually camped out there for two days in 2010.
Glad you had a sunny day on the coast. Hope your days are sunny and bright as you anticipate your gift of spring.
Richard
Richard: yes, Powells! My sister-in-law's sister said it was a must-visit, and she was right. We wandered and wandered. I spent, oh I don't know, a hour at least sitting on one of those old school-library footstools, reading through a craft book about short creative nonfiction which included essays by a good number of my old professors. What a lovely way to pass the time.
DeleteI'm also so thankful we had sun when we arrived on the coast. All the way there through the Tillamook Forest it had been raining, raining, raining. A little miracle on the Oregon shore.
So many introspective images, as always. You have that ability to capture place and emotion and intimacy and, well, you know, "the eye" to see beyond the typical tourist photos. Beautiful photo essay.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Audrey. I keep thinking that there was so much I MISSED that I would have like to include here. As I said above, it rained a good deal of our visit (of course), and we did spend hours in the car with me in the backseat's middle, so the opportunities to see through my lens were fewer than I would have liked. But: I looked and looked. There was a rustic river bordered by trees and dark hills that reminded me of Alaska. There were thick green swathes of forest. Also, a stark, full rainbow that emerged behind us just as we saw the sea. All their own, and lovely.
DeleteOh Powells. That bookstore alone makes me travel down to Portland a few times a year. I hope you went into the rare books room, it's my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI sat in the rare books room and was as quiet as I'd be in a cathedral. I can see why you'd make the trip, Stacy. Millions and millions and millions of pages of magic in that place.
DeleteSo that's Powells! When people who've been there, or are going there, talk about it, it sounds as though they're making pilgrimage. I can imagine it must be a wonderful place.
ReplyDeleteThe landscapes are lovely, as always, but I confess my favorite photo is of the train - it looks as though it might be a steam engine. I love trains, and have since childhood. Many people put too much in train photos - this one's just right.
I pilgrimage sounds like the right kind of word, Linda. I couldn't believe how packed the place was, so hope happy and focused and imaginative and dreamy everyone seemed.
DeleteGlad you liked the train! It was a total random stumbled-upon kind of moment, and I shot the photo out a lowered window while giggling.
As always your photos are majestic. I especially love the one you took of a captured moment between you and your sweetheart. MK
ReplyDeleteThanks, MK. T'was a trip full of those kinds of memories. :)
DeleteLooks like you experienced the many faces of Portland. I try to buy my books from Powells. Even though it is not my local bookstore, it is a local bookstore
ReplyDeleteHi Mary,
DeleteI'd say I experienced many of the faces of Portland inside Powell's, but there was much of Poland we missed. Next time! Seems like a very cool city.
Oh my gosh; those waves and those hills! Stunning and beautiful. I can't believe the color of the water. It's so vivid! It's nearly the same color of the water I saw at Niagara Falls, if you can believe that. So pretty. I've never been to the Pacific Northwest, but I would love to visit someday.
ReplyDeleteReally? The same as the falls? I've never been to Niagara, so now you have me dreaming in that direction. I do love that color blue...the endlessness of it. Something to fall into, don't you think?
DeleteI went to the U of Oregon for college - always love a good Oregon post!
ReplyDeleteGlad to bring you back to a happy place!
Deletewow...the ocean photos are amazing!!!
ReplyDeleteKind of hard to NOT take good photos of the ocean... :)
DeleteI think I could actually hear with these photos. Smell, too. Something very visceral about your work. Thanks for taking us all along.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure. With family now fully ensconced in this area, it's nice to know I'll get back there again!
DeleteEmily, these photographs are beautiful! It's sad, but I have never been to the West Coast and now I realize I must visit. That second to last photograph is fantastic, I can practically smell the salty sea air.
ReplyDeleteIf I wasn't smack-dab in the Christmas season, I would be tempted to say nothing smells better! But...there are these snow-covered pine trees out my door... and they have a very certain sensory allure, too. :) Thanks for stopping by, Liz!
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